


Pine Trees - A Fairy Tale

by ravendiana



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Fairy Tale Style, Gen, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:20:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21868894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ravendiana/pseuds/ravendiana
Summary: "Nanny," said Warlock, climbing up into her lap, "will you tell me a story?"  He cuddled close, to young to mind that she was all hard bones.  It was the only lap he knew, so it was the very best one."Of course I will, baby bat, what kind of story do you want to hear?"  She stroked his hair as he settled in."A fairy story.  But not one of the normal ones.  I want a special story that nobody knows."  Nanny humms.  This isn't such an odd request from the child.  She's been encouraging him to value rarity and hoard things."I can tell you a story that no one else knows, but you have to make me a promise first." She says very solemn and serious.
Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens), Nanny Ashtoreth & Warlock Dowling
Comments: 26
Kudos: 145





	Pine Trees - A Fairy Tale

"Nanny," said Warlock, climbing up into her lap, "will you tell me a story?" He cuddled close, to young to mind that she was all hard bones. It was the only lap he knew, so it was the very best one.

"Of course I will, baby bat, what kind of story do you want to hear?" She stroked his hair as he settled in.

"A fairy story. But not one of the normal ones. I want a special story that nobody knows." Nanny humms. This isn't such an odd request from the child. She's been encouraging him to value rarity and hoard things.

"I can tell you a story that no one else knows, but you have to make me a promise first." She says very solemn and serious.

"What is it?"

"You can never tell the story to anybody else. It is a secret story. If you tell it to someone else, then it won't be just yours anymore." She had other reasons. She found it very hard to deny the child anything, but the fact that she was willing to tell this story, even obscured didn't mean she wanted it getting out.

"I Promise." warlock nodded emphatically. "Will it have a happy ending?"

"I don't know. You will have to listen to the story and tell me if you think it is happy."

"Once upon a time, when the world was young and new, there were hardly any people in it. There were plants, and animals, and there were fairies. There were daytime fairies and nighttime fairies. The daytime fairies lived in the sky. They liked order and rules and safety. They thought that if everyone always followed the rules then everything would be lovely and safe, and they said that since what they wanted would make everyone safe, they were good. 

The nighttime fairies didn't like rules at all. They lived under the ground and they liked to be free to try things and ask questions and learn things. Sometimes they hurt themselves or other people trying stuff out, but they thought everything they learned was worth it. Since the Daytime fairies said they were good the Nighttime fairies decided they were bad. This made some of them get very mean, because that was what they thought they were supposed to be.

There was a nighttime fairy who liked to come up to the Earth instead of spending all her time under it. She liked the plants and the animals and the people. She thought people were very interesting. She tried to teach them things, but then they got in a lot of trouble. One of the Daytime fairies was there and she tried to talk to him, thinking maybe she could get him to help. She also thought he might attack her, but she was going to try. 

When she talked to him, he didn't attack her. He was very nice, and said he had already helped the people, even though he thought it might be against the rules. He wanted the people to be safe more than he wanted to follow the rules. His kindness touched the nighttime fairy, he was kind to people, and he was kind to her, even though he was supposed to hate her. She fell in love. 

Even though he had been kind to her she knew he couldn't love her. They had only met once, and she was supposed to be his enemy. So she went far away to be alone. The people lived in the middle of the world where it is hot so she started going north. And when she was alone she would cry. Her tears were sharp and pointy like her, and where they fell, trees grew. The trees grew fast, like her love. And rather than soft leaves they had needles that pricked like her heart pricked her. She called them pines, because they grew from her pining. 

She would go away and cry her trees and then she would come back to the people because she wanted to see what they were doing. Sometimes they taught her things, and sometimes she taught them things. There were more and more people every time she went away and came back. Fairies live forever and she didn't understand time very well. Sometimes she would see the daytime fairy. He would talk to her. He even seemed happy to see her. She fell more in love every time, and would go away to some new part of the world to cry new pine trees.

One day, when she was going somewhere new, she found something very strange. There were already pine trees there! They were a kind she had never seen. She didn't know how they had gotten there. She walked through the trees wondering where they had come from, and she heard someone crying. She followed the sound, and she saw the daytime fairy! He was walking and crying new pine trees! She followed him, amazed, and she stepped on a twig. He spun around and saw her and by the look on his face, she knew that he was crying for her! 

She was so happy, but she also knew that even though she loved him, and he loved her, the other fairies wouldn't let them be together. The whole time they had been falling in love, all the other fairies had been getting madder and madder at each other. Both sides had started using people in their fights against each other. The fairy knew that if they tried to be together not only would they get hurt but a lot of people would too. But she wanted him to know, since she knew. 'I thought I was the only one who cried out my pining as trees,' she said. She saw him light up when he understood, but then she ran away.

So now they both live on earth, instead of under it or over it. And he tries to help people, and she tries to teach them. And sometimes they get to see each other. They can even help each other, if they are very very careful. They have to hide from all the other fairies still, but they don't cry pine trees any more, because they know the other one loves them."

Warlock was almost asleep in her lap and she tucked into bed for the night.

"Now my little baby bay, was that a happy ending or sad?" He wrinkled his face.

"It wasn't really happy, and it wasn't really sad." He decided. "It could still be either one, someday."

"Then the story is like life, my dear, because you never know until you get to the end." She brushes back his hair and kisses his forehead. "Now go to sleep, I'll be here when you wake up."


End file.
